Increasingly, computer systems have needed to protect themselves against unwanted computer code. Such unwanted computer code has generally taken the form of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, and so forth. The damage and/or inconvenience capable of being incurred by these types of unwanted code has ranged from mild interference with a program, such as the display of an unwanted political message in a dialog box, to the complete destruction of contents on a hard drive, and even the theft of personal information.
Such problems are not limited to general computers. Currently, most modern game consoles, such as the Microsoft® Xbox® and Xbox 360™ game consoles and Sony® PlayStation® 2 game console are Internet-capable. Users of game consoles are encouraged to access the Internet via a broadband or dial-up connection and play multiplayer games, etc. These game consoles each run either a proprietary operating system or a commercial operating system. For example, the Microsoft® Xbox® game console uses the Windows™ operating system. As such, the game consoles are potentially open to infection from unwanted computer code.
In addition, the game consoles may also act as a vector for spreading viruses during Internet gaming. Furthermore, there is a risk of the game consoles becoming part of a “botnet” or “zombie” network, and being used either as part of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack or a re-sender of unsuitable and/or illegal content. Another problem associated with Internet-capable game consoles is that such game consoles are capable of browsing the Internet and communicating over the Internet. As these consoles are often the property of minors, there is a danger of unsuitable content being made available to such younger users.
There is thus a need for overcoming one or more of these and/or other problems associated with the prior art.